Vapor
by whisperedwish3s
Summary: In which she realizes that the path she wants isn't always the path she's meant to take. People come and go and they show you that there's something better always meant for you. A story of friendship, family, love, and sacrifice.


_**Author's Note: Meteor Garden, it's plot, cast and characters do not belong to me, only Dao Ming Xia does.**_

 _ **PS. If you like this chapter, please fave and/or review. Positive feedback , suggestions and ideas are always welcome.**_

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 **S** han Cai was walking through the hallways with her friends Qinghe and Li Zhen after the orientation. They were looking at the pictures that she took with her phone of Mr. Bobbit, the foreign speaker. They were too engrossed in their conversation that they failed to notice a group of girls coming towards the hallway they were about to reach. Someone bumped into Shan Cai causing her to drop her phone from shock. She hurriedly bent down to try and pick it up but was unable to do so due to the crowd of girls stampeding all over the place. Her phone was being kicked further and further away from her and she tried her best to follow it when her worst fear happened; someone with green shoes had stepped on the phone! She was able to pick the now broken phone, up and looked around for the culprit, realizing that they were getting away. That wouldn't do, they needed to pay for her broken phone. So, Shan Cai decided to follow the crowd of people. She didn't know that this would be one of the worst decisions she would ever make.

* * *

 **X** ia nervously walked towards where Mr. Bobbit was waiting for his ride. A crowd had gathered around him to take pictures but she had wanted to have a quick chat. The crowd parted for her and she was already behind him and fixed herself up a little, making sure she was presentable enough to talk to such an important person. She was about to call his attention when someone pulled her roughly by the shoulder which caused her to lose her balance and fall down. Everyone was shocked as they saw what another Freshman do to Dao Ming Xia.

The said freshman tried to grab on to Mr. Bobbit but his body guards subdued her and took her away. Shocked, Xia tried to hurriedly stand before her older brother and his friends could see her like this.

"Princess, are you okay? How dare that freshman try to hurt you." One of the spectators said, helping her up and watching her brush her clothing to make sure nothing was out of place.

She was about to speak up to the crowd when she heard a voice call out from behind her.

"Hey, Meimei." Xia closed her eyes and sighed deeply before looking at her older brother, Dao Ming Si.

"Hello, Ahia. I-" She was about to talk about what happened during orientation when her brother pulled her left arm up and twisted it.

Xia failed to notice that she had injured herself from the fall and that the said wound was bleeding.

"What happened?" Lei asked as he stepped forward to examine the wound. Xia just looked down, knowing that her brother would be angry with whoever did it, accident or not.

Ah Si looked at the crowd since he noticed that his sister didn't want to talk.

"Someone, tell me what happened or else." He said with an underlying threat in his tone. A random girl stepped forward with her eyes on the ground, not making eye contact with any of the F4 boys or their princess.

"A freshman suddenly came out of nowhere and pulled Princess out of the way to get to Mr. Bobbit. She fell and lost her balance."

"Can you give us a name?" Xi Men asked as he looked at Lei who took out a handkerchief and was starting to dab on Xia's wound.

The girl shook her head signaling that she did not know the name of the person. Ah Si turned towards his sister and Lei. He took the handkerchief from his friend and nudged him away so he could tend to his sister instead.

"Ahia, can you just let this one go, please?" Xia tried to ask her brother but he just shook his head in response.

"No one messes with my little sister." And with that, he gently took her hand and started leaving; the rest of his friends following him.

* * *

 **D** ong Shan Cai was leaning against her locker, listening to all the rumors being spread about her and what she did.

 _"Look, that's her."_

 _"She's that freshman, Dong Shan Cai?"_

 _"I heard that before attacking Mr. Bobbit, she attacked Dao Ming Xia."_

 _"Yeah, is she crazy? Dao Ming Si will surely not let this incident pass."_

"This is terrible." Shan Cai whispered to herself as she stared at her broken phone. She slammed her locker door shut as she heard another person talk about her. She was about to walk away when Qinghe and Li Zhen appeared.

"Shan Cai, are you hurt?" Li Zhen worriedly asked.

"Shan Cai, I'm sorry. It was all my fault. I wasn't able to protect you." Qinghe blamed himself for the incident.

"Why did you attack Mr. Bobbit? And I heard you attacked someone named Dao Ming Xia as well?" Qinghe continued to ask. Shan Cai just took a deep breath before trying to explain.

"I didn't want to attack both. I was trying to find the F4 member with green shoes. One of them stepped on my phone and broke it." She showed them her broken phone for good measure.

"F4? Who's F4? Where are they?" Li Zhen curiously asked.

"Are they the ones those girls were taking photos of? They seem to be very popular." Qinghe stated.

"The F4 members are very popular seniors." A voice said from behind Shan Cai. All three of them turned to see a beautiful girl with short hair.

"Are you guys new?" The girl asked as she walked in front of them and all three nodded in confirmation.

"We're freshmen from the Nutrition Department. And you are?" Shan Cai asked the girl.

"Junior in Journalism. I'm Guo Caijie." The girl introduced.

"You're so pretty." Qinghe complimented to which Caijie only smiled at.

"Caijie, why is F4 so popular?" Shan Cai asked the important question.

"They're four senior students at Mingde. Their average height is 185cm. They're all very handsome, talented and outgoing. Most importantly, at school, they all excel in their respective fields." Caijie explained and she turned around to walk while the other 3 followed her. They came across F4 and a girl but Caijie just held her head and paid them no mind. Shan Cai was wanted to confront the guy with the green shoes that time but she wanted to know more about F4 first.

"Huaze Lei majors in Music. Xi Men, Mei Zuo and Dao Ming Si major in Business Administration. They attract a lot of attention at school. They always get the best scholarships and they're all skilled in at least three languages. They're not only smart, they have great taste too. They might look like players, but they respect women. The four of them are very close. They've been friends since they were little. It's almost impossible for someone new to join them. Because of that, F4 has always been very mysterious at Mingde. The girls all love them, and there are a lot of boys who want to prove that they're better than them. These boys challenge them to prove that they're more popular and more attractive." The three freshmen walked silently the whole time but now, Shan Cai was curious.

"Challenge? How do they challenge them?" She asked Caijie, wanting to know so badly about how she could confront the guy with green shoes.

"With Bridge." The junior simply said.

"Bridge?" The freshmen asked.

"What is Bridge? I've never heard of it." Shan Cai added.

"Bridge is an international card game that's elegant and civilized. It's competitive and require skill and cooperation. They're not only the stars of Mingde, they're also stars in the Bridge world. If anyone wants to beat them, they'll have to be really good. But, since F4 founded the Bridge club, only one person has been able to beat them." Caijie supplied.

"They're that good?" Qinghe disbelievingly said.

"The four of them have different strengths when playing Bridge." Caijie started to describe each member's strengths.

"Feng Mei Zuo is the artistic one. He loves literature and art. He's good at designing exhibitions and holding salons. At the Bridge table, he has incredible memory. He never forgets anything. He's also very humorous. After listening to his jokes, his opponents often lower their defense. They start to take the game less seriously."

"Yan Xi Men is very subtle and cautious. His family adores tea. He is very skilled in the art of tea. At the Bridge table, he's good at strategies. He knows how to play mind games. He distracts his opponents, they often don't know how they lost. They call him the Battle God."

"Hua Ze Lei is a music genius. He has perfect pitch and plays many instruments. He earns many music scholarships every year. At the Bridge table, he's calm and poised. The opponent can never tell what his hand is like. Some say he has laser eyes that can see through others' trickery. Also, they say that when the opponent sees his smile, they'll give up their best card."

"As for the leader of F4, Dao Ming Si, he has great interest and talent in finance. When he turned 18, he earned a million yuan through trading securities. That made him a legend at Mingde's business school. At the Bridge table he's very aggressive. Some people sit down and get scared into making mistakes. They fail to utilize their best cards and regret it afterwards."

"But earlier, you said that only one person has ever been able to beat them. Who?" Li Zhen curiously asked.

"Dao Ming Xia, is known as a genius and is currently working on earning her second degree. She's intelligent, charming and a people person. She's in the Medicine department as she has already finished her business degree. At the Bridge table, she uses her high IQ to analyze things. They say she has all the best traits her brother and his friends have. There are some who say that looking into her eyes can hypnotize you into losing purposely."

"The five of them have won many Bridge awards for the school. The school is very proud of them." Caijie bragged a bit.

"That's awesome." Qinghe praised.

"Even if they're good at cards, they should apologize when they break someone's phone." Shan Cai reasoned out.

"Yeah, we should go to their club right now. If they don't apologize, I'll challenge them and beat them." Qinghe declared.

"It's not that easy to challenge them. You have to get the joker first."

"What's the joker?" Shan Cai asked.

"F4's challenge invitation." Caijie revealed.

"Invitation?" All three freshmen chorused.

"So many people want to challenge them. They got annoyed and made this rule. Anyone who wants to challenge them needs to find the opportunity to tell them in person that they want a challenge. If F4 believes that you're qualified, they'll give you a joker card and give you a time. But, before the game, you need to wager something." Caijie warned.

"Wager something?" Qinghe verified.

"There's a lot of rumors about that. Some are funny. Some are unbelievable." Caijie mysteriously said.

"For example?" Shan Cai asked and Caijie turned to carry on walking before responding.

"For example, if you lose, you'll have to clean the school for one semester. Or squat in the school fountain for half a day, or stay the night in the biology lab with all the specimens. That person fainted. Or, you might have to eat a hundred steamed pork buns in an hour. Some losers have to do a traditional dance by the sea. One of the most ridiculous rumors that no one has been able to prove yet is that one time, someone who lost to them had to eat a pair of slippers. So? Do you still want to challenge them?" Caijie asked as they walked into a corridor and stopped. All three freshmen were silent.

"That's the Bridge club." She said as she gestured to a door near them. She turned around and patted Shan Cai on the shoulder, wishing her luck before walking away.

"Shan Cai, should we go find them?" li Zhen asked her friend nervously.

"Yes. Why not? The guy with green shoes is the one in the wrong. I'm not afraid." Chan Cai declared.

"Yeah, why should we be afraid? Let's go. " Qinghe offered and the three friends walked towards the entrance to the Bridge club.

"Right here?" Li Zhen clarified.

"Yeah. Right here." Qinghe confirmed.

"F4. Come out right now." Shan Cai ordered.

"Yeah. F4, come out right now!" Qinghe backed his friend up.

"The guy in the green shoes, you broke my phone. You have to buy me a new one." Shan Cai stated.

"Yeah. Buy Shan Cai a phone!" Qinghe seconded.

"If you don't come out, we're coming in." Shan Cai threatened.

"Yeah. If you don't come out, we're coming in to challenge you." Qinghe added. They stood in silence for a few moments before Li Zhen spoke up.

"I think they're not here. Let's go." She requested and Qinghe moved to step in front of Shan Cai.

"Yes. According to what Caijie just said, they should be easy to find." Qinghe told her.

"That's right. If we see some tall, long-legged, arrogantly handsome guys, it should be them." Shan Cai deducted and looked at Qinghe who was now looking at the floor.

"What? Is that them?" Qinghe asked.

"I think so. I can feel their presence." Li Zhen said and Shan Cai turned from her spot to see four guys and a girl walking towards their direction. She immediately walked towards them and blocked their way. She noticed that when they stopped walking in front of her, the pineapple haired guy placed the girl protectively behind him while the others hovered close.

"Hey. Green shoe guy." Shan Cai started.

"What do you want?" Ah Si replied and Shan Cai showed him her broken phone.

"What's this?" She asked him.

"A broken phone." He immediately answered which made Mei Zuo laugh.

"Do you know why it's broken?" Shan Cai followed.

"It's none of my business." He retorted.

"None of your business? You broke it by stepping on it." Shan Cai told him.

"When?"

"After the lecture. Those girls wanted to see you and they pushed me. My phone fell on the floor. You stepped on it and broke it." Shan Cai narrated. Dao Ming Si, however, just looked straight again and walked passed her, bumping into her a bit. The other boys soon followed. Shan Cai turned around and tried to go after them once again.

"Hey! I'm not done yet!" She angrily said as Qinghe grabbed her arm and tried his best to stop her from going after them.

"Shan Cai, stop it." Qinghe called out as Li Zhen watched them. They failed to realize that the girl was still standing there until she cleared her throat. This made Shan Cai stop struggling and turn to look at the girl.

"On behalf of my brother, I apologize." The girl said as she took steps forward, stopped in front of Shan Cai and bowed to her in apology.

"Uhm, who are you? You're very pretty." Qinghe told the girl who smiled.

"I'm Xia, Dao Ming Si is my older brother. What are your names?" She said with a smile.

"I'm Li Zhen."

"I'm Chen Qinghe."

"Y-you're the girl I pushed away this morning. I apologize. I was trying to get to your brother. My name is Dong Shan Cai." Shan Cai said. This time, she was the one bowing. Xia just shook her head with a smile then took out some money and held it out to Shan Cai.

"It's okay. I knew it was just an accident. I hope this would cover for a new phone." She continued, offering the money.

"I can't accept that. It wasn't your fault my phone broke in the first place." Shan Cai told her.

"But, he's my brother. Wouldn't that be the same thing?" Xia asked her.

"I want an apology from him as well so I can't take the money from you." Shan Cai told her and Xia nodded as she stuffed the cash back into her coat pocket.

"Okay then. Well, I better get going now. It was nice to meet you guys." She said as she started to walk towards the direction her brother had gone. One of the guys, the one wearing a white cardigan, was waiting for her at the end of the hall. He smiled at her and offered her his arm which she took and the two walked off.


End file.
